What if it happened here? Lawmen talk emergency plans after Boston terror spree

Rebecca Clark

Wednesday

Apr 24, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 24, 2013 at 10:32 AM

The grainy photo, shared on Twitter Friday morning, showed men in camouflage perched on a roof, guns drawn, toes dangling off the edge of the shingles.

Beneath the pair lay a child's riding toy, forgotten on the lawn.

Watertown, part of the greater Boston area, was swarming with law enforcement officers, first responders and even tanks as the hunt for a 19-year-old Boston marathon bombing suspect was on.

Hours earlier, police said, an MIT campus police officer was shot and killed during a crime spree by the alleged bombers. One of the suspects also died during an altercation with police.

The manhunt -- for a suspect implicated in Boston Marathon bombings that killed at least three and wounded upwards of 200 plus -- sparked a massive response from law enforcement agencies.

Although Cleveland County has never encountered a manhunt on the scale of the one that unfolded in Boston, local law enforcement and emergency leaders say plans are in place if such an event unfolded.

The Cleveland County community remained on high alert in the summer of 2009 when a serial killer left behind a trail of victims just beyond the South Carolina border.

Daily briefings in Cherokee County, S.C., kept local agencies up to date as 41-year-old Patrick Burris evaded law enforcement for a week.

Burris shot and killed five people in a six-day time span, according to police, before he was shot and killed by a Gaston County police officer about 30 miles from where the killings began.

The year before the killing spree, Burris worked in Cleveland County.

Sheriff Alan Norman said local deputies participated in briefings each morning and afternoon at the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's office personnel patrolled the state line, keeping an eye out for a vehicle or suspect matching Burris's description.

He said the multi-county manhunt illustrates that when disaster strikes, there are no boundaries between agencies.

'Getting this county prepared'

Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford said when something of the magnitude of the situation in Boston happens, reaching out for help is imperative.

He said agencies in Cleveland County -- fire, Emergency Management Services, police -- have good working relationships along with multi-hazard plans.

"I think they have done a great job getting this county prepared," Ledford said.

In the event of a manhunt, he said, one of the first moves is to get information out to the public about who police are searching for and where they might be located.

"That's when you depend on communication and intelligence gathering," he said.

Norman said reverse 911, just like what was used in Boston on Friday, would be utilized to notify homes in certain grids what to look out for and offer safety precautions.

'Train for a multitude of situations'

Local law enforcement agencies also deploy teams with special training to volatile situations.

Ledford said Shelby Police has a 20-member response team made up of both tactical elements and negotiators.

"They train for a multitude of situations," he said. "Everything from a barricaded suspect to a suicidal person to a manhunt. They train in not only different situations but in different environments."

Training is done monthly.

Officers learn how to make entry into buildings or premises, marksmanship skills and how to use a variety of weapons and tactics.

"They're taught endurance...the physical aspect really comes into play," Ledford said. "It's high intensity, high adrenaline. They have to be physically ready as well as mentally ready."

Norman said the sheriff's office has a 15-member Community Emergency Response Team.

The specialized division trains several times a month.

"Anything from a barricaded suspect, such as what Boston police faced (Friday) morning, to a school search, plus multiple hours of firearms training at the sheriff's office range," Norman said. "The first line of defense is going to be your patrol divisions...the second line of defense is going to be the sheriff's office tactical team."

The effort to assist people

Dewey Cook, the county's Emergency Management director, said the agency responds to natural disasters and assists other agencies in a variety of circumstances.

He said in a situation such as the one in Boston, emergency management would coordinate the effort to evacuate people from homes.

He said the county's emergency management is also backed by state and regional teams.

"Charlotte has a vast amount of resources that they can deploy anywhere that they need to be," Cook said. "We could call up on them and make resource requests through North Carolina Emergency Management."

Reach Rebecca Clark at 704-669-3344 or rclark@shelbystar.com.

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